Going to Meet the Man: Stories

· Sold by Vintage
4.4
9 reviews
Ebook
256
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

A major collection of short stories by one of America’s most important writers—informed by the knowledge the wounds racism leaves in both its victims and its perpetrators. • “If Van Gogh was our 19th-century artist-saint, James Baldwin is our 20th-century one.” —Michael Ondaatje, Booker Prize-winner of The English Patient

In this modern classic, "there's no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it." The men and women in these eight short fictions grasp this truth on an elemental level, and their stories detail the ingenious and often desperate ways in which they try to keep their head above water.

It may be the heroin that a down-and-out jazz pianist uses to face the terror of pouring his life into an inanimate instrument. It may be the brittle piety of a father who can never forgive his son for his illegitimacy. Or it may be the screen of bigotry that a redneck deputy has raised to blunt the awful childhood memory of the day his parents took him to watch a black man being murdered by a gleeful mob.

By turns haunting, heartbreaking, and horrifying, Going to Meet the Man is a major work by one of our most important writers.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
9 reviews
JOhiyoM
June 10, 2016
Relevant this day. A time when the historical, institutionalized racism of this nation is trivialized by certain powers that B thru manipulation of uninformed social media enthusiasts jumping 2 conclusions B4 all the facts r out on the latest news story- mere distraction. Silly lil ideological debates & nothing has changed. Kid falls in with gorilla @ zoo. R parents black or white? We find out they weren't white. It becomes THE racial debate the USA has needed 2 have with itself since 1964. Meanwhile...
2 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Aidan Richter
February 22, 2017
Great Book, Did a Project on It for School!
4 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Michael Garrett
March 28, 2023
great book
Did you find this helpful?

About the author

James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were bestsellers that made him an influential figure in the growing civil rights movement. Baldwin spent much of his life in France, where he moved to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States. He died in France in 1987, a year after being made a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.